Germany's medieval poster child, ringed by walkable walls and crowned by the Plönlein — the crooked yellow house on a forked lane that launched a thousand jigsaw puzzles. Day-trippers pour through until late afternoon, then vanish, leaving the lanes to overnighters. Join the Night Watchman's lamplit tour at 8pm — hammy, in the best possible way — then drink Franconian wine in a tavern that predates Columbus. December's Reiterlesmarkt is the fairy tale at maximum wattage.
Featured in Ten candlelit old towns made for slow evenings · Romantic